Hebert wins sixth Michigan PGA in seven years

I'd like to take some credit for Scott Hebert's recent win at the Michigan PGA Championship at Oakland Hills University's two courses.

But that would be a little silly. Still, I can't help but think that by dragging him out of the office a week before the championship to play a little golf on The Bear had to help. Hebert, the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa's head professional and director of instruction, talked about how he had been playing poorly, but I watched him make two birdies almost without effort in nine holes from the tips of The Bear.

At the Michigan PGA, Hebert started the day three shots off the lead and shot a final-round 3-under-par 69 on the Katke-Cousins course at Oakland University. It was just one of four rounds under par on the final day, and put him at 8-under-par 208 for the three days, and four shots ahead of Ian Ziska, the head professional at Katke Golf Club at Ferris State University, who closed with a 75.

“It’s nice to be No. 1 among your peers,” Hebert said after collecting a $6,000 first-place check, a crystal trophy and earning another inscription of his name on the Gilbert A. Currie Trophy. “To win at this point in my career when I don’t put as much effort on my game feels great. To come out and get to 8-under on two good golf courses is something to be proud of.”

Matthew Zavadil, a teaching professional with the host Oakland University Golf & Learning Center, shot a closing 71 for 214 and a tie for third place with Tom Harding of Kendall Golf Academy in Ypsilanti.

Hebert, who also has six Michigan Open victories in his career, said he hit his driver well all week, and made critical putts when needed. “I was proud of how I hit it,” he said. “It was nice playing out of the fairway most of the time. That has been my problem all summer, and not to do a commercial, but the new Titleist driver was phenomenal. Plus, I made a lot of four-footers, the kind you have to make when you really need to make them.”

Hebert, as a past PGA Professional National Champion (2008), is exempt for the 2013 club pro national championship. The next 10 golfers earned exemptions, which means Ziska, Harding, Zavadil, Brad Dean, TJ Roberts, Scott Schulte, John Seltzer, Lee Houtteman of Grand Traverse Resort, Kyle Martin of Lochmoor Club in Grosse Pointe Woods and Matt Pesta of Beacon Hills Golf Club will make the June 23-26 trip to Sun River, Ore., for the national event. Houtteman, Martin and Pesta won their spots in a four-golfer playoff for three spots. George Bowman of Oakhurst in Clarkston will be the first alternate.

“We’re going to send a strong group to Oregon,” Hebert said. “We’re all proud of our (Michigan PGA) section, and I’m proud to be on top right now.”

Michigan PGA Championship kicks off at Oakland University this week

The Michigan PGA Championship generally signifies the end of the competitive season for Michigan's top golf professionals.

Held at Eagle Eye in recent years, the 54-hole competitions starting Monday moves to the celebrated R&S Sharf and Katke-Cousins golf courses at Oakland University. The two courses are hosting the annual championship of the top club and teaching professional players for the first time. The field will split and play a round each on the two courses Monday and Tuesday with Wednesday’s closing round on the Katke-Cousins course. An estimated $46,000 purse is at stake.

Scott Hebert, a five-time champion, will defend his title, and the head professional at Grand Traverse Resort in Acme has great memories of the Oakland University golf facilities. He won the 2008 Michigan Pro-Pro Championship there with Mick DeKorver of Sunnybrook Country Club in Grandville.

Hebert, also a six-time Michigan Open champion, has won five of the last six PGA titles, interrupted in that stretch only by 2010 champion Ron Beurmann of the Country Club of Jackson. He said defending the title he won last year at Eagle Eye Golf Club in Bath will require the best golf he has played this year.

“I’ve had such a miserable year, but I hit some balls today and it seemed to be getting better,” he said in a statement. “I’m planning to get geared up to play. I would love to win again, obviously.”

Hebert, the Michigan PGA’s Player of the Year from 2006 through 2010, will be joined in the field by 2011 Player of the Year Brian Cairns of Fox Hills Learning Center in Plymouth. Cairns, a two-time Michigan PGA champion, played with the world’s top golfers in the recent PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, S.C., after earning a spot with a top 20 finish in the PGA Professional National Championship last year. The top 10 of next week’s Michigan PGA Championship earn spots in the 2013 Professional National Championship (PNC) field, the first step in qualifying for the 2013 PGA Championship. Cairns (pictured above) missed the cut at the PGA Championship the past two years, but he'll tell you just teeing it up in a major is every club pro's dream.

Learn from the best -- Scott Hebert -- at the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa

I guess I picked the right time for a two-day golf school with Scott Hebert at his new Grand Traverse Resort & Spa golf academy.

It was the day after Hebert erased a two-shot deficit on the first hole of the final round of the Michigan PGA Professional Championship en route to his fifth title in six years at Eagle Eye Golf Course. GTR's head professional shot a final round 67 and handily won by five shots over Eric Dovre.

Dovre, the first and second round leader, faltered with a bogey on the first hole while Hebert was making birdie, his first of four in the a row to start the round.

“That was a fast horse to catch,” Dovre said. “Shell-shocked is not the right word, but he came out firing and I was kind of right there with him but I made two bad swings for back-to-back double bogies (on No. 5 and 6 to finish a seven-shot swing on the leaderboard). Right then knew I wasn’t playing for first. It was like watching a Tour event; fairways, greens, no mistakes. Really a pleasure to be out there and watch that.”

Dovre finished with a 74.

“I got off to a fast start for a change,” Hebert said. “I think that rattled Eric a bit. Those first four holes were the difference.”

Only five players broke par in the final round including Brian Cairns with a 71. He finished third. Hebert won $6,500 for his efforts.

I can't tell you much about my lesson with Hebert because there's a story brewing in a major magazine, but I can say the two-day session has changed my game forever. It was a great experience, one I can recommend for others.

Cairns, Olsen gear up for PGA Championship in Atlanta

Around these parts, he's known as 3-1-3.

That's the way Dan Olsen won the 1992 Boyne Tournament of Champions ... with a birdie-ace-birdie finish.

Olsen, 44, a 1985 high school grad from East Lansing, is at it again. The assistant pro at Walnut Hills Country Club in East Lansing qualified to play in the PGA Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club next week after finishing in the top 20 of the PGA Club Pro National Championship at Hershey Country Club in Hershey, Pa. He fired a final round 75, but was two under par for 72 holes, which included a third round 67. This is Olsen's 35th career event with the big boys of the PGA Tour. He's won $137,831.80 in that span, all in 2004, his lone full season.

He's not the only local playing. I'm proud to report one of my Facebook friends will tee it up as well ... Brian Cairns of Fox Hills Golf and Banquet Center in Plymouth. Cairns is an excellent instruction, but his game rounded into form this summer to quality for his first major championship, finishing 11th at the PNC.

Go guys go!

Take a winter golf trip to the Grand Traverse Resort & Spa

How about a golf getaway to Northern Michigan?

No, I'm not crazy. Yes, there's snow on the ground.

It's OK, the Grand Traverse Resort & Spa in Acme, near Traverse City, has you covered.

The resort is offering a Winter Golf Package based on double occupancy that includes two nights accommodations, two hours of instruction and one 45-minute golf clinic per person, costing $214 per person in the hotel and $261 per person in the tower.

This is the fourth winter season that the resort is operating its Winter Golf Center featuring instruction by head pro, Scott Hebert, who won the 2008 PGA Professional National Championship and is a six-time Michigan Open Champion. The center features three heated indoor/outdoor practice tees.

Lessons and practice sessions are available for adults, seniors, men, women, boys, and girls. Regular hours of operation are 10 a.m.- 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Saturday through the end of February. From March to April 3, it's 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Sunday.

Traverse City is a beautiful place to visit in winter. The resort has an indoor pool for the kids and a spa for adults. The resort's restaurants are diverse with different menus and prices, and there are dozens of more choices in the area, known as a budding foodie destination.

FYI, the package prices do not include 8% tax and $14.95 nightly resort fee. The Golf Clinic and Golf Instruction must be scheduled in advance. Check-in begins at 4 p.m. and check-out is by 11:00 a.m.

For more, visit grandtraverseresort.com.

Jackson's Ron Beurmann wins dramatic Michigan PGA Championship

EAST LANSING - The island green at the Eagle Eye Golf Club claimed another victim and yet again had a hand in the Michigan PGA Professional Championship.

Ron Beurmann of Jackson came from four strokes behind with two holes to play to win the 89th Michigan PGA Professional Championship in a playoff Aug. 25. The 50-year old Director of Golf at The Country Club of Jackson was two strokes behind entering the final round and won the tournament on the second hole of a three-man playoff.

“It’s a miracle, it’s a miracle,” he said. “The key for me winning this week is the fact I only missed two five-foot putts.”

John Seltzer of Ann Arbor held a two-stroke lead entering the final round and looked in control until his one-stroke lead vanished with a wet tee shot on the 142-yard 17th hole, which mimics the island green at the TPC of Sawgrass.

Sean Winters of Bloomfield Hills Country Club started the final round five shots behind Seltzer but got hot in the middle of the round with an eagle on 14 and a birdie on 15 before driving his tee shot into the water on the par five 18th hole. He ended with a double bogey. On the final hole, Seltzer’s layup shot found the edge of a railroad tie, leading to a double bogey. Beurmann birdied the hole as all three players finshed regulation at 10-under par.

Winters was eliminated on the first playoff hole when he again hit his tee shot into the water and ended with double bogey. Seltzer bogeyed the second hole of the playoff and Beurmann’s par was good enough to win the $7,000 first place prize and shake a 12-year draught of winning a major.

“I never gave up but it’s amazing how many times I’ve walked away from a tournament and said this is it because of my putting,” he said. “I’ve seen some crazy stuff over the years but never for me and it’s great to win in front of my friends and peers."

Four-time defending champion Scott Hebert of Grand Traverse Resort & Spa, fresh off an appearance in the PGA Championship, tied for fourth, six strokes back.

Top 10 finishers

*1, Ron Beurmann Country Club of Jackson 206 $7000.00
2, Sean Winters Bloomfield Hills Country Club 206 $3250.00
2, John Seltzer The Polo Fields in Ann Arbor 206 $3250.00
4, Scott Hebert Grand Traverse Resort Spa 212 $1800.00
4, Lee Houtteman Grand Traverse Resort Spa 212 $1800.00
6, Ian Ziska Manistee National Golf Resort 213 $1300.00
7, Eric Dovre Detroit Golf Club 214 $1100.00
8, Brian Cairns Fox Hills Golf & Banquet Center 215 $906.67
8, Christopher Johnson Thousand Oaks Golf Club 215 $906.67
8, Frank McAuliffe Ann Arbor Country Club 215 $906.67

Consider Traverse City's Great Wolf Lodge for a fun family golf vacation

Over the past decade, water parks have sprouted up all over Michigan. Even so, the Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City continues to stand above the competition.

This ultra-cool indoor water park, one of a family scattered nationwide, isn’t known as a golfer’s haven. I’m here to argue otherwise.

It’s a no-brainer for a golf trip/family vacation, a perfect place for guilt-free golf. While you’re off playing a round at any of the area’s great courses, the family you left behind will hardly notice you’re gone. Great Wolf Lodge is a wonderland for children. Throw in a massage at the onsite Elements Spa or some downtime for your significant other to create a great getaway for all.

The lodge in Traverse City sits off a main drag near a Meijer store but its northern woods décor gives off the vibe of an out-of-the-way escape. You never have to leave to be entertained or fed (the food is high quality with menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner).

Many of the unique suites sleep a family of 4 to 8 people comfortably. The KidKamp suites my family of four stayed in recently featured a main room with a couch, bed, TV and fireplace. The “den” where the children slept was enclosed with a bunk bed, a third bed and another television so we didn’t have to fight over the remote. A kitchenette with a fridge, sink and microwave were convenient additions.



During the spring and fall -- when the weather is good enough for golf, but iffy for the beach -- the constant climate of 84 degrees at the indoor water park seems like a perfect way to spend a day.

You can get wet any way imaginable on the four-story Fort Mackenzie, but the most dramatic way is when the 1,000-gallon bucket on top the play structure dumps its load. The walk-in kiddie pool is perfect for toddlers with a slide and climbing playhouse on a smaller scale. The bigger pool offers leap pads and a giant snake to play on with a separate area for water basketball. The lazy river attracts younger children, while the more adventurous love the speedy waterslides.

The outdoor water park and putt-putt course with animatronics open between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Since he’s not much of a swimmer, my son probably liked the dryland activities the most, the arcade and an addictive game called Magiquest, an interactive scavenger hunt where players gather pixie dust and slay dragons. It’s great fun for the crowd ages 7-14.



At Christmas time, the “Snowland” festivities celebrate the holidays in style. It really snows three times a day inside the polar-themed lobby, thanks to snow-making machines hidden in the rafters. My two children loved that they could decorate Christmas cookies and send letters to Santa.

As for the golf, Traverse City is loaded with great courses … the three at the Grand Traverse Resort & Spa are the headliners. The Bear is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Six more fab courses at A-Ga-Ming Resort and Shanty Creek Resorts are less than 45 minutes away.

Golf and goggles … it doesn’t get much better than that for a family that wants it all on vacation.

Hebert prepares for 2010 club pro national championship at eye-popping French Lick Resort in Indiana

Scott Hebert got his first look at the intimidating Dye course at French Lick Resort & Casino, the host of the 2010 PGA Professional National Championship. And the head professional from Grand Traverse Resort and Spa near Traverse City liked what he saw.

“All the Pete Dye stuff is tough,” he said, just moments after listening to Dye talk about his latest course at a recent media day for the tournament. “(But) I do better on modern courses. They fit my game better.”

Hebert, the six-time Michigan Open champion, says he didn’t get to play much golf over the winter, instead settling for banging balls out of the impressive winter practice facility at Grand Traverse Resort.

Even so, Hebert is among the defending champions expected to contend at the 43rd edition of the tournament set for June 27-30. Hebert won the PNC in 2008 and was a member of the PGA team that smothered its international competition from Great Britain and Ireland last fall in the PGA Cup, a Ryder Cup competition for club pros.

The PNC will feature one round on the resort’s Donald Ross course and one of the Dye course before moving strictly to the showcase Dye course on the weekend. Hebert believes it will be a challenge to walk the Dye course.

“It’s a good course for me. You can’t overpower it,” he said. “It’s similar to The Bear. There’s a premium on irons. I look forward to playing. I hope it’s playing fast and firm.”

The event serves as a coming-out party for the resort, which has undergone a massive $500 million renovation since 2005, spearheaded by the Cook Group Inc. of nearby Bloomington, Ind. The West Baden Springs Hotel, circa 1902, once again shines as “the Eighth Wonder of the World,” thanks to its awe-inspiring six-story atrium and ornate decor. Even Al Capone, once a regular guest, would be impressed at its opulence.

The nearby luxurious French Lick Springs Hotel, another historic building dating to the turn of the last century, now offers a monstrous 51,000-square-foot casino featuring 1,300 slots and 41 table games.

As grand as the hotels are, the golf is even better.

No golf resort in the country delivers such a range of playing experiences as French Lick. Purists drool over the restored par-70 Donald Ross course, built in 1917. Its terrain ambles to and fro with endless variety … dog legs left and right, short holes, par 4s longer than 460 yards, uphill approaches, downhill tee shots. There are virtually no forced carries, but crooked lies on hillsides challenge even the best of ball strikers. It will play 6,885 yards for the 312 club pros from 43 states who have qualified for the PNC.

Dye delivers the modern ying to Ross’s old-school yang. He took a rugged, almost mountainous, site that is one of the highest points in the state, offering expansive views 40 miles in either direction, and imposed his will to find a course on it. The terrain he carved is reminiscent of Whistling Straights, host of this year’s PGA Championship.

The master of visual deception, Dye peppered ribbon-thin fairways with danger … a lateral water hazard here, a waste bunker there. Or maybe it’s a falloff zone or set of mounds that suck your ball into oblivion.

He used every trick in his bag except his signature railroad ties. He molded “volcano” bunkers – sand hazards perched atop mounds -- along the fairway of the second hole. He added “church pews,” ala Oakmont Country Club, in the fairway waste bunker on the 18th hole. Three par-5s boomerang left around steep drop-offs filled with juicy rough. Almost every green seemingly rests on stilts, surrounded by shaved collection zones. He stretched the course to a mindboggling 8,102 yards, but it will play a mere 7,174 yards in the tournament.

Todd Smith, who won the 2009 Indiana PGA Championship at The Pete Dye Course with a 9-over-par 223 for 54 holes, calls the layout “really special.”

"Mr. Dye gives you a chance to play a hole with ample room in a fairway, but when it comes to making a score on a hole, you have to be precise,” said Smith, a 47-year-old PGA head professional at Rock Hollow Golf Club and a nine-time Indiana PGA Player of the Year. “I love to play his courses."

Even by Dye’s standards, this is diabolical golf at its over-the-top best. Dye, who lives near Indianapolis, admits to being nervous how it will be received by top club pros. It’s only been open slightly over a year. And at $350 a round, it’s not for everybody.

The 84-year-old architect shouldn’t fret too much about what a few club pros might think. This course should only enhance the legacy of his hall-of-fame career. A statue of Dye guards the entrance to the course and his picture is prominently featured on every tee marker.

“This golf course is always in the eye of the beholder,” Dye said. “You always worry how it will be received. The ambience is so dramatic. … I’ve never done anything like this before. We’ll see what happens (at the tournament), for better or worse.”

Michigan voted as America's 11th-best golf destination

A top 10 would have been nice.

But considering the competition, it's not too shabby that Michigan was just voted the 11th-best golf destination in America by readers of Golf World. My personal vote would probably put it somewhere in the top eight in heated competition with places like northern California (Pebble Beach), Pinehurst, N.C.; Florida, Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Kohler, Wisconsin; the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in Alabama and Bandon, Oregon.



Considering that most of those other places have a year-round golf season, it's a miracle that Michigan is even in the mix at all. It speaks volumes to the quality and depth of Michigan's product. With more than 800 public courses, Michigan is the public golf capital of the world.



I read in Golf Digest a few years back that only California had more four star courses than Michigan. Both had more than 100. Think about that. You could spend 5 or more summers trying to play the best the state had to offer and still not see them all.


Forest Dunes Golf Club in Roscommon also made headlines during the reader survey, taking top honors for the most popular public course category. That's amazing considering how far out of the way the course is. Yet the effort to find the Tom Weiskopf course is rewarded with a stunning clubhouse and one of the most pure golf experiences in Michigan. The waste bunkers bring the best of the North Carolina sandhills to meld with the pristine woods of northern Michigan for some great golf. The management by Troon Golf ensures that every guest is well cared for.



With any readership poll, there are some quirks in the rankings. Arcadia Bluffs ranked 16th in the public course category (fair enough), but the unheard of Cedar Chase course in Cedar Springs made the list at No. 23, followed by Eagle Eye in Bath (27th), Bucks Run in Mount Pleasant (30th), Pilgrims Run in Pierson (31st) and Shepherd's Hollow (tie for 4oth). Maybe some ballot-box stuffing was done for Cedar Chase, but the others are all worthy candidates.



In the resort category, the Resorts of Tullymore checked in at No. 27, high praise for a resort still in the development stages, beating out rivals like Treetop Resort in Gaylord (32nd), the Inn at Bay Harbor in Petoskey (38th) and the Grand Traverse Resort & Spa in Acme (45th).



Again, like I wrote a few weeks ago, rankings are subjective and worth noting but hardly worth living by. Any Michigan course or resort that made these lists are worthy of a visit. Choosing which one you like best is part of personal preference and part of the fun of it all.

Grand Traverse Resort honored by Golf Digest

I've always looked at rankings of courses and resorts with a curious eye.

I enjoy them. Who doesn't? The courses and resorts love them for their marketing materials. The customers love them. Golfers like to brag to friends that 'I played one of the top 50 courses in Michigan' or something along those lines.

But I don't take stock in the actual ranking. I use them more as a general guide. The Grand Traverse Resort and Spa in Acme recently was honored by Golf Digest as having the 48th best golf resort in the country. It's the first time the resort has been so honored, and in my opinion, long overdue.

But I don't take stock in the resort's actual ranking (No. 48). I look at the honor as more of a validation that the resort is "among" the top resorts in the country. Whether it's No. 48 or 38 or 68 doesn't really matter.

The fact is the resort belongs among the best because of its amenities and the experience it delivers for golfers. The three courses are superb and all nearby. Shooting a number at The Bear remains a status symbol for any player, like saying you dated a supermodel.

Everything else at the resort is top notch. The accomodations are nice. The restaurants are great. The surrounding attractions -- with the new Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel down the road and the vibrant downtown and beaches of Traverse City in the other direction -- can only be rivaled among Michigan's golf resorts by The Inn at Bay Harbor in Petoskey.

Even the little things, like the policy that allows dogs at Grand Traverse and the new water toys at the indoor pool, add up to help boost the resort's image in the eyes of the people doing the rankings. The honor just makes me want to get back to the resort sooner rather than later.